2018 Gaja Pieve Santa Restituta "Sugarille" Brunello di Montalcino

Showing extra richness and textural weight, the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille is structured, rich and intense. This wine represents fruit from a single site that is characterized by schistous galestro soils. These conditions give Sugarille its heavier center of gravity and its distinguished power and heft. Dark fruit, balsam herb and pencil shavings shape a beautiful and precise bouquet. Give this wine more time to age. (ML) 95+

The 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille keeps me coming back to the glass again and again to take in its spicy yet also wonderfully lifted bouquet, as shavings of cedar and pine evolve to reveal mentholated herbs, flinty stone and dried black cherries. This is deeply textural, soothing with its combination of ripe red fruits and juicy acidity, as sweet spices and mint nuances resonate toward the close. The Sugarille doesn’t miss a beat, tapering off with impeccable balance and regal structure, while allowing remnants of ripe wild berries and plum to linger on and on. The Gaja family has really outdone themselves in this idiosyncratic vintage. (EG)